---
id: hdate
version: "1.2.1"
license: GPL-3.0-or-later
license_treatment: copyleft
maintenance: active
---

# hdate — Jewish/Hebrew date and Zmanim in native Python 2.7/3.x

License: copyleft · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 81.3K/mo

## What it is and what it does

hdate is a Python library that converts Gregorian dates to the Hebrew calendar and calculates Zmanim—the precise times of Jewish prayer services and daily events based on solar position and location. It wraps the C library libhdate and serves as the backend for Home Assistant's Jewish Calendar integration.

The library takes a Gregorian date and a geographic location (latitude, longitude, timezone, elevation) and returns Hebrew date information in multiple languages plus detailed prayer times. It handles both the calendar conversion and astronomical calculations needed for accurate Zmanim, making it suitable for applications that need to display Hebrew dates or alert users to prayer times.

Use it for:

- Display the Hebrew date and day of the week in a Jewish calendar or scheduling application.
- Calculate prayer times (Zmanim) for a synagogue or religious organization's schedule.
- Build a Hebrew calendar widget or integration for home automation or calendar software.
- Convert between Gregorian and Hebrew dates for historical or genealogical research.
- Provide multilingual Hebrew date output in applications serving Hebrew-speaking users.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides Hebrew date information and Jewish prayer times (Zmanim) for any given Gregorian date and location, with support for multiple languages including Hebrew and English.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, production-stable, has low install friction, and fills a specific niche for Hebrew date and Zmanim calculations. The copyleft GPL-3.0-or-later license requires careful review if you plan to distribute proprietary software, but is standard for this type of library. No known security vulnerabilities.

## Install

pip install hdate
uv add hdate
poetry add hdate

## Installing hdate

Before you install: Low friction installation with a single runtime dependency (num2words). Actively maintained with recent commits and marked as production-stable; last release was 117 days ago.

License in practice: Licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft). Any code that links or distributes this library must be made available under compatible open-source terms; proprietary or closed-source projects should review compatibility before use.

Quickstart:

import hdate
import datetime

c = hdate.Location("פתח תקוה", 32.08707, 34.88747, "Asia/Jerusalem", 54)
z = hdate.Zmanim(date=datetime.date(2016, 4, 18), location=c)
print(z)

h = hdate.HDateInfo(datetime.date(2016, 4, 18))
print(h)

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Accuracy of Zmanim calculations relative to other Jewish calendar libraries or authoritative sources.
- Performance characteristics when computing times for many dates or locations in sequence.
- Whether the library handles edge cases like dates near the Arctic Circle or during polar day/night.

## Package facts

- License: GPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 81.3K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

hebrew date converter, jewish calendar python, zmanim prayer times, hebrew date library, jewish calendar calculations, prayer times calculator, hebrew date and times, hebrew-calendar, jewish-dates, zmanim

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